Hi!
This is a forward from Musa Ngum's homepage. Get the latest African News at: http://w1.853.telia.com/~u85309812/africannews.htm
Thanks.
Buharry.
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Ivorian People's Revolt Sours, Gbagbo Urges Unity
By Silvia Aloisi
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's ``people's power'' revolt turned sour on Thursday, with political and ethnic rivals killing one another with machetes and clubs and attacking churches and mosques.
Supporters of the traditionally stable West African nation's new President Laurent Gbagbo and his Muslim political rival Alassane Ouattara fought bloody clashes in the main city Abidjan over Ouattara's demand for a fresh presidential election.
It was a call supported by a string of countries and personalities including the United States and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Gbagbo, in his inaugural address after being proclaimed winner of Sunday's presidential election, appealed for national reconciliation.
But he rejected the calls for a new poll saying that a parliamentary election on December 10 would go ahead as planned.
``I pledge before you. We will not write a new constitution. We will not hold another presidential election,'' Gbagbo, 55, said, adding that he would respect a pledge to the presidents of Togo and Benin and form a national unity government.
``I will respect this undertaking and set up a broad-based government of national unity,'' he said.
At least 25 people were killed in Thursday's violence, adding to around 60 killed in the two-day ``people power'' protests that swept military ruler General Robert Guei from power in the world's top cocoa producer on Wednesday.
Cocoa futures closed firmer in London on Thursday but fell back as traders continued to monitor events in Ivory Coast.
The Security Ministry imposed a night curfew and the armed forces warned they would shoot on sight anyone breaking it.
Appeals For Calm
Spokesmen for Gbagbo's and Ouattara's parties appeared on state television together to issue joint appeals for calm.
``If we are not careful, we are going to plunge the country into a spiral of violence,'' Moise Lida Kouassi of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) said. ``I appeal to you to put down your arms and respect the curfew,'' he added.
Guei called the presidential election and December 10 parliamentary election to return the county to constitutional rule following its first coup last December.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Tuesday and Wednesday after Guei scrapped the independent National Electoral Commission (CNE) and proclaimed himself winner of Sunday's election with 52.72 percent of votes.
The Commission resumed its own count on Thursday and proclaimed Gbagbo, the man who spearheaded the campaign that brought Ivory Coast multi-party politics, the winner with 59.36 percent of votes cast.
Ouattara was banned from the election by a new constitution which was overwhelmingly approved by referendum in July.
His supporters took to the streets in districts across Abidjan on Wednesday and Thursday, demanding a new election. They erected barricades and burned tires.
Protests turned into pitched battles with Gbagbo supporters. Mobs from both sides attacked mosques and churches. One mob lynched a policeman. Others burned rivals alive.
``We have fallen into the abyss,'' Laurent Dona-Fologo, acting head of the former ruling Democratic Party (news - web sites) (PDCI-RDA), said.
``We're heading straight for a Rwanda,'' Ouattara's spokesman Aly Coulibaly said, accusing security forces of arming vigilantes from rival ethnic groups.
Ouattara draws his support from the Muslim north. Gbagbo's supporters come from the largely Christian and animist west and south of the former French colony.
``We are going to demand free elections and we will continue the demonstrations until we have those free elections,'' Ouattara told Reuters in an interview early in the day.
He later took refuge in the German embassy after paramilitary security forces, some of whose members sided with Gbagbo loyalists, opened fire on his home. His security guards fired back. A child died in the exchange.
The Democratic Party, which ruled from independence from France in 1960 until the 1999 coup, condemned Thursday's protests and pledged to work with Gbagbo. Its candidates were also excluded from standing on Sunday.
Guei's whereabouts were unclear. Administration and diplomatic sources said he left Abidjan on Wednesday but his helicopter ran out of fuel and landed in an Ivorian village.
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